Back to the Marauders
by OrangeScript
Summary: A magical experiment sends Harry, Ginny, Neville, Ron, and Hermione back to the time of the Marauders. They promptly run into the four biggest mischief-makers in Hogwarts History, (the Weasley twins came in a close #2) a batlike git, the Prefect Evans with her infamous eyebrow, and the slightly mental but brilliant professor with a lemon drop obsession. Well. It worked! Now what?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So, yes, this is the old back-in-time plot. But hey, you know, I always like these, and hopefully you will too. Review if you've got questions or comments. **

**~~~~~~OrangeScript**

**Disclaimer: By the way, In case you were wondering, I'm not JK Rowling. I know, it's shocking. But we'll all just have to get over the shock. It would be great if I was though...SIGHHHHHHHHH. BUT I'M NOT. AND GUESS WHAT ELSE? I DON'T OWN THE CHARACTERS, OR THE WIZARDING WORLD, OR ANYTHING IN THE HARRY POTTER BOOKS! AND I'M ALSO MAKING ABSOLUTELY NO MONEY. yeah.**

Abruptly the spinning stopped and, with a very graceful thud, Harry landed in more or less of a standing position, his head throbbing, stomach lurching, and eyes struggling to adjust to the brightness of his new surroundings. Finding his now-slightly-bent glasses in his hand, he thrust them on.

The world came back into focus and Harry was jolted to find himself face to face with a pair of rather astonished-looking watery grey eyes and a red nose that twitched in a very rodent-like fashion. Harry jumped back; his wand came to his hand, and he pounced at the unfortunate owner of those features, his eyes blazing.

"You," he snarled, his voice filled with loathing. He had a hard time remembering to breathe as he stared furiously down into the grey eyes. Harry's hand curled tightly around the boy's collar, and he jammed his wand into the pink, fleshy neck of Peter Pettigrew, the man who had cost him just about everything.

Peter choked. His eyes watered. "Please, please it hurts." Harry was disgusted. Spittle flew everywhere. The red face was even redder than Harry remembered, the whiny, wheezing voice was higher pitched. He was, in every respect, like a frightened little pig of a boy- much like Dudley.

Harry heard the thumps and ungraceful sounds of his friends behind him as they, too struggled to get their bearings in the new time, and in the back of his mind he had a triumphant shriek of "It worked!" but his eyes were trained only on the filthy boy at the end of his wand.

"You traitor!" He screamed, jabbing with his wand at the terrified boy's neck, "You bloody rat, you son of-"

"Let go of him," a voice growled, steady, foreign, and yet somehow so familiar: "or I swear I'll hex you 'till you scream for your mother."

For the first time, Harry looked up from where he'd been glaring at Wormtail, and took in the others around him. Three boys, about his age, in Gryffindor robes, had their wands trained firmly on him. The one in front, the one who had spoken, was tall, slight, and athletic-looking, with messy black hair and glasses that sat lopsided on his nose; his eyes glinted with a steely anger.

His father. Harry swallowed. He didn't even have to look to know that the other two were a younger Lupin and Sirius: he had interrupted a Marauders' meeting.

"You'd be better off without him," he said furiously, yanking harder on Peter's collar, "trust me, I'd be doing you a favor."

"Yeah, he's a pain in the arse but we'd rather keep him if it's all the same to you," Sirius spoke for the first time, his mischievous eyes held no laughter now- the anger in his dark eyes was surprising as Sirius had never looked at Harry in such a way before- "We've grown rather fond of the boy."

"Leave the lad alone," Remus added quietly, his wand hand twitching.

And these were the friends the worm had betrayed, Harry thought, the anger working its way to boiling point.

"Stay back," he yelled at them, briefly pulling his wand off Wormtail to brandish it wildly at them. "Just stay back!"

"We're warning you," Remus began, but James apparently had a different idea. Harry's father's eyes flashed; he roared "Sectumsempra!" and before Harry could even think about blocking the spell, Hermione's wand shot out behind his ear with a lightning fast "Protego!".

In a moment Hermione, Ron, Neville, and Ginny were grouped protectively around Harry and his captive, each with a wand pointed at one of the Marauders and Hermione maintaining the shield.

"This is so weird," Ron whispered, leveling his wand at Remus Lupin.

"Agreed," muttered Neville, whose wand was aimed at the nose of Sirius Black.

"Harry," Ginny said, sidling up to him and squeezing his arm affectionately, "you might want to let go of it's collar, you don't want to make your dad mad," she winked at him sadly, her wand still pointed at James Potter.

Breathing hard, Harry let go of the shirt, but kept his wand pointed at Pettigrew, who scrambled backwards, also panting heavily.

It was at this point, of course, that none other than Prefect Lily Evans showed up, wand at the ready, trailed by everyone's favorite greasy, bat-cloaked git.

"Potter, would you like to tell me what the hell is going on?" Lily shouted, pointing her wand at each wizard and witch in turn, face morphed into an irritated and bewildered scowl that only grew deeper when both Harry and James turned at the name "Potter."

Harry watched as Snape's wand automatically found James's unprotected back, but he also noticed, not without interest, that the potions professor held back on a curse. Probably on Lily's behalf.

"It isn't what it looks like," Harry said quickly, turning a pleading eye to his mother. "I think we all just got off on the wrong foot."

"And who are you?" Lily switched her wand from James to Harry, her infamous eyebrow arching superciliously.

"I'm..." He turned helplessly to look at his friends. Ron and Neville merely shrugged; Ginny looked like she was trying to think of something, but Hermione spoke up.

"Dumbledore!" She yelled, then glanced around. "I mean we're here to see- we need to speak with Dumbledore."

"Does he know you're coming?" Lily asked, lowering her wand a bit, so it was less threatening.

"Um...We're not sure," Harry hedged, aware of how stupid he sounded.

"You're not sure?" Snape sneered at the same time James yelled "He's lying! They're lying!"

Everyone turned to James, whose face was red. "They just popped up, in the middle of nowhere like...like apparation! And then he," he took this moment to jab his wand in Harry's direction, "attacked Peter!"

"Hogwarts has anti-apparation wards," Lily said sharply. Stealing a quick look at Harry and his friends, she turned to Remus. "Is that what happened?"

Remus nodded and Sirius added "Just like he said."

Hermione jumped in again, desperately. She looked at Lily. "Miss Evans, yes?"

Startled, Lily nodded her head.

"I think this has all just been a big misunderstanding. We are friends. We-" she smiled lightly, "we come in peace." Hermione nudged Harry, and he reluctantly lowered his wand arm, pocketing his wand. The motion was copied by his friends, and Hermione dispelled the shield charm. "See? We mean no harm."

"Very well," Lily said, her nostrils flaring. "I shall escort you to the Headmaster's office." She turned angrily to the Marauders: "Potter, Lupin, Black, lower your wands this instant. Duelling is not permitted without teacher supervision and approval. If I find out that there was any misconduct on your part, I will freely deduct points from Gryffindor. And Potter,"

Harry's shoulder gave an involuntary twitch and James, who had, with difficulty, sheathed his wand, turned to Lily warily.

"Come with us to the Headmaster's office and you can give a report."

James nodded and followed Lily and Harry's group towards the castle, shooting his friends and Snape a suspicious look.

As they moved off, Harry turned for one more glance at his godfather and smiled as he saw Sirius, clearly annoyed, mumble a hex at Snape's shoe, which immediately grew claws and teeth and started attacking its owner's foot. Snape's angry shout echoed through the grounds, and Lily, leading the troop, rolled her eyes as a melee broke out behind her. James looked longingly back at his friends, but Lily soldiered ahead and they all had no choice but to follow. Ron and Harry exchanged glances and silently agreed to play it by ear.

….

Dumbledore was sitting quietly at his desk, head in hand as he looked over some photographs. The girl in the photo, Ariana, smiled sweetly up at him, tilting her head with a silent laugh. There were tears in his eyes when he heard the knock, and, hastily wiping them away, he turned to his gargoyle.

"Miss Evans and Mr. Potter and...some others."

Dumbledore looked at the gargoyle strangely, but replaced the photographs underneath some papers in his desk's bottom drawer and adjusted his bowl of lemon drops. "Enter," he called mildly.

James Potter entered first, looking mutinous, and he was followed by five others whom Dumbledore had never seen before. Bringing up the rear was Lily Evans, whose eyes were alight with a whole lot of questions, and who had a cautious wand drawn.

"Lemon drop?" He offered them the bowl.

Lily shook her head and addressed him. "Headmaster," she began formally, then indicated the assorted group of people next to her: "they appeared, as if by apparation, onto the grounds, and they quickly got into an altercation with Potter and his friends. I stepped in and broke it up and they said they had to speak with you, so I escorted them to your office."

Dumbledore felt his brow crease, and he looked past Lily to the people she gestured to. The one that stood in front looked remarkably like...James. Dumbledore shot a quick comparative look at his student. Yes, the resemblance was very strong: The messy black hair, the athletic build, even the tilted glasses. The James lookalike regarded him carefully but familiarly, as if they'd already met and knew each other well. It was a weird look to see on the face of a complete stranger.

The other children also looked at him with a vague sort of recognition, just none as strong as the boy's. He scanned them for a familiar face, and was slightly rewarded. The two redheads, obviously related, had a very Weasley-ish look about them, and the other boy looked like someone he couldn't quite place, but the last girl he was certain he had never seen before.

Dumbledore turned back to the boy in front, James II, he was starting to think of him as, and the boy closed his eyes tight, as if in concentration.

Then came a light, feathery touch at his mental shields. Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. A Legilimens? Dumbledore's mental shields were, as they always were, sturdy and unyielding, but he got the feeling that James II wasn't trying to penetrate. He grasped the presence, the light touch in his mind, and was surprised when it unraveled into a message: Need to speak. Important. He could feel in the words the boy's magical signature. He looked into James II's eyes, which were now open. They were bottle green like...like Lily's. And they were very intense.

"Leave us please, Miss Evans, Mr. Potter...the rest of you."

Harry could feel Ginny's hold around his arm tighten and Neville, Ron, and Hermione looked to him for the okay. Dumbledore's eyes were locked intently on his; he nodded. Silently they all left, Ginny giving his forearm one last, encouraging squeeze.

When the last student had filed out of the room and the door clicked shut, Harry crossed the room to the cupboard where Dumbledore's pensieve sat. The silvery liquid was streaming out of his ear to his wand even as the basin flew out. With the grace and fluidity of one who has had much experience with such oddities, Harry transferred the memories to the bowl. As he turned back around, a splash of red caught his eye. He reversed his turn. A beautiful bird sat preening its feathers atop a bookshelf. It cocked its head at Harry and he grinned: "Hullo Fawkes. Good to see you, old boy."

"Wonder of wonders," Dumbledore steepled his fingers and leaned back on his chair. This ought to be good.

**Author's Note: Well Hello There. Just a plot bunny that's been hopping across my brain. Should I continue? If I get enough reviews you betcha there'll be more. So please review. It makes me happy. And happy people write more :)**


	2. Chapter 2 - Generation Gap

**Author's Note: Hello, my wonderful readers! Just so you know, this takes place the summer after Harry's sixth year. Dumbledore is dead in their time, but Harry and Ginny are still together. Ron and Hermione are still awkwardly crushing on each other but too stubborn to admit it, and horcruxes do, in fact, exist.**

**DISCLAIMER: I'm not JK Rowling and I don't own the Harry Potter universe. And I am still a starving, penniless student.**

Harry and Dumbledore dove headfirst into the pensieve.

Harry gave him a quick recap of his six Hogwarts years and Dumbledore, catching sight of his older self, drew in a breath, "Oh." That was all he said throughout the entire time.

By the time they had exited the pensieve, however, he was deep in concentration. "Severus Snape killed me?" He asked it very casually, but Harry could tell he was thinking very hard about something.

Harry nodded, uncomfortable.

"Do you mind- Can I see that memory?" The old wizard asked.

"Um, sir, don't you think it might be a bit traumatizing, to see yourself die?" He was worried about those last moments in particular. How would Dumbledore react to seeing himself beg? Hate welled up in Harry at the thought of Snape, at the thought of his betrayal.

"I just want to confirm something," Dumbledore said mildly. "Don't worry."

So Harry reluctantly extracted another memory and placed it into the pensieve. "You'll have to go this one alone," he said weakly. "I don't want to see it again."

Dumbledore touched Harry's shoulder comfortingly and then ducked into the silvery bowl.

When he came back, he said, very simply, "Ah."

Harry waited for more, but the headmaster didn't say anything else.

Dumbledore began pacing the length of his office, his hands and wand clasped behind him. "I saw the memories: the horcruxes, my death, your lovely group, Dumbledore's Army…" He paused in his musings to beam at Harry, "I must say, that was very sweet of you to name it after me; I'm touched. Can you explain the time travel again?"

"All I was hoping for," Harry began, "was a couple more days with you, to figure out some sort of plan for the horcruxes, to learn what I needed to learn, to ask you all those questions I never asked you-" His voice broke and he could feel his eyes welling up. "I'm sorry," he hastily wiped his eyes. "I just wanted a little more time.

"Hermione was on it, said that Time-Turners wouldn't work for the job, but that she would look into the theory. Pretty soon the whole DA was in on it; we were meeting in the Room of Requirement every day - some of us even stayed overnight there - Hermione and the Ravenclaws came up with an idea, and it was almost ready, and we decided that it should just be me, Ron, and Hermione, that the rest of the DA would help us out with research and stuff from the Room of Requirement. And then Hermione had this epiphany or something and she went into a frenzy and she organized some sort of spell, had the older years working on some Arithmancy calculations, and it was almost perfect, and she stopped to breathe for a second, and then-"

Dumbledore nodded, he had seen the memory. Neville Longbottom had come running into the room; Snape had seen him enter Hogwarts and he had given him the slip at the trick staircase, before bolting over to the Room of Requirement. Unfortunately, he hadn't been expecting the new developments in the room: Hermione's intricate spell patterns, the barriers, the sheer number of feverishly working students.

Dumbledore closed his eyes and remembered the look of surprise on the boy's face as he tripped over a spell barrier, Hermione, eyes wide, reaching for his elbow, the redhead boy, Ronald, diving for her, Harry diving for Ronald, and Ginny, grabbing desperately for the sleeve of Harry's robe. He saw the bright lights, the spinning, and then, THUD: their dramatic appearance in front of the Marauders on Hogwarts grounds.

"Well," Dumbledore said cheerfully. "Now I am up to speed."

"So what do we do?"

"What do we do?" Dumbledore asked, looking surprised. "Why exactly what you were planning to do in the first place."

"Sir?"

"Make a plan. However, we must be very careful how we go about this. We cannot risk the repercussions of changing the future. Therefore, I will need to Obliviate myself."

"Is that necessary?"

"Most definitely. Even I can be tempted." Dumbledore's eyes got a faraway look in them, but he snapped out of his reverie almost immediately. "First things first, however," he said rather abruptly, "let's go fetch your friends. We'll need to decide some things."

…

MEANWHILE

When the door to the Headmaster's office clicked shut, Lily and James whirled on the time-travelers: "Who are you?" James' hand spasmed towards his wand and then, as if thinking better of it, he snatched it away, settling for glaring at the four of them.

"Um…" Neville looked at Hermione.

Ginny looked at Hermione.

Ron looked at Hermione.

Hermione flushed. "Don't look at me!"

"Don't you think this is all a bit fishy?" James' demanded Lily. His voice rose. "They appear out of thin air, grab Peter, march into Dumbledore's office, and can't give us a straight answer!" He gritted his teeth and in one fluid motion drew his wand.

Ron, who had been avidly following the progress of James' wand hand, was the only one who drew his in time. The two boys faced each other, wands pointed.

Hermione shrieked and Ginny and Neville dove for their wands.

"James," Lily ordered, her voice rather high-pitched. "Put your wand away this instant or-"

But she was interrupted as three boys came sprinting towards them. Skidding to a panting halt, the other Marauders took up ready dueling stances behind James.

Hermione shot an imploring look at Lily, whose hand was inching towards her own weapon.

"Okay," Ron commanded. "Call your guy. I've got James."

"Sirius," Ginny said, narrowing her eyes.

"I'll take Prof- er – Lupin. I've got Lupin." Neville stuttered.

"I don't think we should-" Hermione tried, but Lily drew her wand, and grumbling, Hermione returned the action. "Fine," she snapped. "I've got Lily."

"What about Pettigrew?" Neville asked.

"Oh, please," Ginny flicked her wand lazily in the boy's general direction and Pettigrew gave a sort of squeaky gasp as he stumbled backwards, covering his nose and whimpering as he fell victim to the famous Weasley Bat Bogey Hex.

Everyone stared at Peter for a moment, blinking.

"Wow, Ginny," Neville whispered, awestruck. Ron grinned, impressed, while Hermione mouthed "Nonverbal!"

Sirius was the first of his generation to recover, and he spun to face Ginny, chuckling. "That was hot, sweetheart, and if you'd done it to anyone else I would be _Sirius_-ly turned on, but as it is, no one hexes my friends." He charged, and Ginny dodged his first spell, and then shot one of her own.

Taking that as their cue, the rest of the duelers started in on each other. Ron and James fought aggressively, Hermione and Lily dueled intelligently, Neville and Lupin's battle was quiet but tense, and Ginny and Sirius danced through the pairs wildly, firing very creative hexes at one another.

Sirius yelped as Ginny's jinx grazed his shoulder, prompting James to turn for a split-second, whereupon he got a face full of Ron's stinging hex. Lily and Hermione scored simultaneous hits on each other, glaring, and Neville, backed into a corner by an orange-spotted Lupin, made a daring shot and spun right around him, grabbing the wall to steady himself when Lupin's Jelly Legs Jinx found its mark.

The pairs were extremely well-matched, and had they not been interrupted by an angry McGonagall, the fights may have lasted well into the next day. However, the tartan-robe-clad woman rushed onto the scene, wand a-ready, and, after gaping at her students (future and present) for a few moments, she raised her wand above her head to emit sparks and a loud "BANG!" noise.

She waited. Her expression went from disapproval to outrage when the students continued dueling, oblivious to her arrival.

Sirius, being chased down the hallway by Ginny, fired a desperate spell in the girl's direction and bunny ears pushed their way through her unruly red hair. Pumping his arm triumphantly, the boy spun, only to run straight into McGonagall. His heart nearly stopped. Ginny slid to a breathless stop beside him, flinching when she realized who stood over her. Neville looked over his shoulder at the professor in horror, and Remus hit him with a stunner, not realizing until he turned. Hermione, in the process of dodging a hex from Lily gasped, and Lily, in pursuit, caught sight of her professor and stumbled forward. James, the last to realize, landed a muggle punch across Ron's jaw and tackled him. They fell in a pile at McGonagall's feet, eyes wide.

United in terror, the students, as one, slowly looked up to meet McGonagall's furious gaze.

For a few seconds she just glared silently at all of them. And then, "EXACTLY WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?"

…

Harry pushed open the door to the headmaster's office, wondering what his friends had done while he was talking to Dumbledore, and nearly tripped over a body.

_What the hell?_

He looked down and saw a prostrate Peter Pettigrew who had bats flying out of his nose and attacking his face. He smirked. _Thank you, Ginny_.

But then he saw the rest of the scene. His eyes traveled incredulously over a bearded Lily with a green, prickly wand-hand, a red-faced Hermione covered in fish scales, a James with a swollen, pink face and a nosebleed pinning the arms of an irritated-looking Ron, whose jaw was bruised, an unconscious Neville who smelled like rotten eggs, an orange-spotted Lupin who looked like he would rather be anywhere but where he was, a panting Sirius who had a growth of mushrooms and was covered in worms, a windswept Ginny, who, despite having the ears of a rabbit and tulips sticking out of her left arm, looked very beautiful to Harry, and finally, to a McGonagall who looked like she could breathe fire.

Harry blinked. He opened his mouth, and then tried to close it, but his jaw hung open. Behind him, Dumbledore opened the door again and made to exit the office, but paused when he saw that Harry wasn't moving.

The old wizard's twinkling eyes took in the pile of students and the irate McGonagall with an unfazed expression. "Well, you had all better come back in here," he said genially. He generously reached out, and, with one wrinkled hand, closed Harry's mouth for him. He led the way back inside his office, humming to himself.

"Well, you heard him," McGonagall said tightly. "Get in there, all of you!"

Ron pushed James off of him roughly and got to his feet. Remus stepped away from Neville's body. Lily and Hermione followed Dumbledore, both looking upset, and Sirius helped Peter to his feet.

McGonagall paused over Neville, "Ennervate."

Neville rolled over, spluttering, saw McGonagall, and swiftly sheathed his wand. Ron gave him a hand up, and they joined Harry at the door.

"What the hell?" Harry asked.

Ron shot a glance at McGonagall, who was following them, beady eyes slitted, and shook his head.

They filed obediently into the office and McGonagall shut the door behind them with a very scary click. The silence was overwhelming for a while. Everyone stared at Dumbledore, who was sitting in his chair, sucking on a lemon drop and staring very thoughtfully out into space, seemingly oblivious to the tension in the air.

He finally seemed to notice everyone staring, because he looked up and a smile automatically unraveled across his face. "But where are my manners?" Dumbledore asked, reaching for his bowl of sweets. "Does anyone want a lemon drop?"

"Do you by chance have any headache potion?" McGonagall asked, leaning back into a chair and massaging her temples tiredly.

The headmaster gave her a sympathetic look and Lily, Remus, and Hermione looked guilty.

"Would you like to tell me what is going on, Albus? Who are these children?"

**A/N: As always, my dear readers, please, please, pretty please with sugar on top…..REVIEW. I love reviews. I love them a lot. **** Hope you enjoyed!**


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